Ali is from Rockford, Illinois, home of the sock monkey, Cheap Trick, and the Rockford Peaches. She lived in Los Angeles for six years while she attended the University of Southern California for her bachelor’s degree in political economy and her master’s degree in public diplomacy. Wanting to improve her Spanish skills, she then moved to Santiago, Chile to get immersed in the language. Her favorite vacation was to Playa Jaco, Costa Rica, and her favorite tour was a bike tour of Helsinki, Finland.